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  4. Light from two coherent sources of the same amplitude A and wavelength λ illuminates the screen. The intensity of the central maximum is I0. If the sources were incoherent, the intensity at the same point will be

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Q. Light from two coherent sources of the same amplitude $A$ and wavelength $\lambda$ illuminates the screen. The intensity of the central maximum is $I_0$. If the sources were incoherent, the intensity at the same point will be

KCETKCET 2007Wave Optics

Solution:

The rays of light from two coherent sources superimpose each other on the screen forming alternate maxima (with maximum intensity $I_{0}$ ) and minima (with intensity zero). If two non-coherent sources superimpose, there will be no maxima and minima, instead the intensity will be $\frac{I_{0}}{2}$ throughout.